A 1576 Hostage-Taking in the Arctic

It didn't start out as an abduction.

Martin Frobisher set sail from England in 1576 on the first of his three Arctic voyages, in command of two vessels, the Gabriel and the Michael. The voyage was sponsored by the Muscovy Company and its purpose was to find a Northwest Passage to the riches of the far east. On August 11, the Gabriel entered Frobisher Bay. (The Michael, which had become separated from the Gabriel, had turned back for Britain.)

From an island near the head of the bay, Frobisher and Christopher Hall surveyed the body of water that, despite its progressive narrowing, they thought was the sought-for passage west. Then they spotted objects moving in the water at a distance:

"And being ashore, upon the toppe of a hill," a contemporary account related, "he perceived a number of small things fleeting in the Sea a farre off, whyche he supposed to be Porposes or Ceales, or some kinde of strange fishe: but coming nearer, he discovered them to be men, in small boates made of leather."

Frobisher and his men were about to be part of the first documented encounter between Englishmen and Inuit.

The Englishmen retreated to the safety of the Gabriel, while the Inuit made land. Hall then went ashore with the ship's boat, a white flag waving to show his peaceful intent. He invited one Inuk to come to the ship and left one sailor ashore.

At this point each side had a hostage. The Inuk was fed and given wine and when he returned to land he reported that he had been well-treated. The English hostage returned to the ship. Nineteen more Inuit arrived and boarded the ship. They showed no fear of the Englishmen and seemed familiar with ships. It is probable that they had seen Europeans before.

The two groups traded. The Inuit brought fish and meat as well as seal and bear skins, and received in return bells, mirrors and other trade objects.

Frobisher attempted to hire one of the Inuit men as a pilot to guide him through the passage he thought led to the west. But there was probably misunderstanding about this on both sides.

Five of Frobisher's men were dispatched in the ship's boat to take the man ashore to get his kayak. Instead of putting him ashore in sight of the ship, they rowed around a headland where three of them went ashore with the man. The boat, with two men in it, then was seen offshore and Frobisher made signs that they should return to the ship. The boat disappeared again behind the headland, presumably to pick up the other men. Frobisher's five men were never seen by Englishmen again.

A few days later, the man who had been the first to board the ship some day earlier, approached the vessel in his kayak, no doubt to trade. He was cautious, but Frobisher lured him close to the ship with a bell. He dropped the bell into the water, but out of reach of the Inuk.

Then Frobisher lured him closer, by ringing a larger bell over the side of the ship. As the Inuk reached for the bell, Frobisher seized the man's hand, then grasped his wrist with his other hand and lifted the man and his kayak out of the water and onto the deck of the ship in one smooth motion.

A chronicler of Frobisher's voyage wrote that the man bit his tongue in two. Frobisher held the man hostage for a time, hoping to exchange him for his five missing men and his much-needed boat.

But the Inuit who came near the ship in their kayaks did not offer up the five men. With the loss of his ship's boat and some of his most able-bodied men, Frobisher gave up his mission. On Aug. 25, with the unfortunate Inuk still on board, he turned sail for England.

The hostage was now a captive and could be used to prove to Queen Elizabeth I that Frobisher had reached a far-off land.

They reached London on October 9, where the Inuk became the talk of the town. George Best described him as "this strange infidel, whose like was never seen, read, nor heard of before, and whose language was neither known nor understood of any."

Unfortunately this nameless captive did not survive long. He died in London and was buried in the Church of St. Olave, a church that still stands near the Tower of London. The church records, however, do not record the burial of the Eskimo and so he remains nameless, the first recorded casualty in a clash of cultures in the Canadian Arctic.

Taissumani recounts a specific event of historic interest. Kenn Harper is a historian, writer and linguist who lives in Iqaluit. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to kennharper@hotmail.com.